


hush little baby

by guardianoffun



Series: Shameless [10]
Category: Endeavour (TV)
Genre: Established Relationship, George Fancy is Fine!, Multi, Peter Jakes Didn't Leave Oxford, baby sitting shenanigans
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-22
Updated: 2019-07-22
Packaged: 2020-07-10 18:26:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,639
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19910209
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/guardianoffun/pseuds/guardianoffun
Summary: With Shirley out of town and a slight emergency calling George away, there's a little Fancy in need of baby sitting. Who better to call than... Jakes and Morse? They'll be fine, right?





	hush little baby

**Author's Note:**

> SOSOSOSOSOOOOO there's 0 explanation for this honestly . i was just like wow babies are cute as heck, and I think Morse should get to hold one for a while so!!! 
> 
> Set in the Shameless universe wher Jakes never left and Fancy is still kicking! He and Shirley got married and had a bby at soooome point. Post series 6 in canon, pre Stitches in Shameless.

The phone rang early that evening, when Morse had not long left choir practice. Jakes has been sitting on the sofa, thumbing through some old book and trying not to fall asleep sitting up. The sharp sound of the phone jolted him awake, and he hopped across the room to grab it. 

“Morse residence, Peter speaking,” he said as he rubbed at his eyes. 

“Oh, Jakes, sir, thank god!” The voice CID’s favourite constable - and first time father - George Fancy sounded relieved. Somewhere in the background he could hear the sound of footsteps, Fancy pacing the hallway no doubt. 

“Fancy? Everything alright?” 

On the other end, Fancy dithered for a second. “Yes, well kind of, it’s just-” the sound of the newest little Fancy crying cut through. “Something’s come up, sort of- you know Shirley’s at her sister’s this weekend, girls night, and well I just, ah shit,” there was some shuffling, and then Fancy’s voice again, a little strained this time. 

“Mum called; dad’s in hospital, I just- I need to go down and see them, but it’s late and Charlotte, and I don’t know what I’m saying, I’m sorry I called sir-” Jakes pressed a fist to his mouth to smother fond laughter.

“Fancy, don’t be daft, bring her over, I’ll watch her.” 

The sheer relief in Fancy’s voice is almost tangible. “You would? Just for tonight, Shirley’s back tomorrow afternoon, I shouldn’t be too long.” Jakes reassured him, of course it would be no hassle. Not that Jakes had ever minded a child for, well at all, but surely she couldn’t be too much trouble. Six months old, and only just teething, surely she would simply sleep most of the night. 

Fancy hung up, promising to be round shortly, and Jakes slid the phone back on the receiver and glanced around the living room. Perhaps he should tidy up a bit, the stack of cups and badly stacked books all over the floor didn’t really scream  _ child friendly _ . 

By the time he had cleared most breakable or chewable things away, the doorbell was ringing. He opened the door to find Fancy standing there, about as harried as he had sounded, a small bundle in his arms and the most stressed smile on his face. 

“Evening sir!” he said, still sounding cheery despite the circumstances. “Thanks again for this, are you sure?” Jakes nodded as he let Fancy in, watching the way he bounced as he walked, hand patting out a soothing rhythm on his daughter’s back. 

“Of course, who else would you ask?” Fancy laughed. 

“True, I don’t much see Strange as the motherly type.” 

As Jakes helped bring in the ridiculously large bag in from the car, Fancy set about propping up the Moses basket, setting it beside the armchair. As he laid Charlotte down, Jakes heaved the travelbag onto the chair, wheezing ever so slightly. 

“She’s been bathed and changed, but she’ll probably want feeding in an hour or so - I’ve got formula ready, it’s easy to mix.” He ran a hand through his unusually long hair. 

“I’ve packed clothes and nappies and all that, something new for the morning and whatnot, and her favourite toys, blankets,” he ran his hands over the pockets of the bag as he spoke, though it sounded like it was more to reassure himself than Jakes. Just as Fancy looked on the verge of some sort of break, Jakes reached over and grabbed his arm. 

“George, you’ve got it all, probably more than enough her to keep us going for the night.” He smiled. “Besides, if there’s something missing I can knock next door, Brenda’s just had her third, I’m sure she’d help out.” 

Fancy sagged a little under his touch. “Yeah, you’re right, I’m overthinking this. Thank you, again, and Morse too, wherever he is-” Jakes froze. Fancy’s eyes sharpened. 

“Where is Morse? You asked him first, right?” 

Jakes tried to aim for a lighthearted laugh, but it fooled neither of them. “Well, that’s a me problem Fancy, I’ll sort Morse out. You need to be with your family.” 

He herded Fancy towards the door, but not before the constable bent to plant one last kiss on his daughter’s head. “Take care of them,” he whispered to her, earning a bat on the arm from Jakes. Jakes wished him well as he drove off, watching from the door at the car faded from view. Turning back to wander into the living room, Jakes folded his arms across his chest. 

Charlotte Fancy blinked up at him. He had this, he knew what he was doing. How hard could it be? 

* * *

Thirty minutes later, Jakes was ready to start crying too. He and Charlotte had gotten along fine for the first twenty minutes, as he extracted her from her swathes of blankets and laid her out on the blanket he had thrown onto the rug. He had dropped down and laid beside her, propped on his elbows with a rattle in his hand. They had started a fun sort of game wherein he dangled the toy above her head whilst she grabbed for it, and every now and then he let her catch it, which she celebrated by shoving it in her mouth and gumming on it for a while. 

At some point though, her happy little gurgles turned scratchier. One moment she was giggling away, the next she had bunched up her hands and wailed. 

“Hey now, hey now!” he found himself cooing, hopping up and scooping her into his arms. “What’s all this about, huh?” He held her to his chest, doing his best to mimic Fancy’s oscillations. Charlotte calmed a little and a sense of achievement washed over Jakes - this clearly wasn’t as hard as all those television shows made it out to be. Then she took one deep, shuddering breath and screeched. 

Everything Fancy had told him before he had left conveniently fled his brain, as the sad, sorry cries of the little girl in his arms echoed around the empty flat. Jakes floundered for a second, pressing the rattle into Charlotte’s hand as his other hand dug around the bag for something to fix the situation. As the height of one of her cries, she lobbed the thing onto the floor, and the way it clattered so spectacularly resonated with Jakes. 

His hand struck the side of a bottle, and relief hit him like a brick. Fancy had said she was in need of another bottle. The next problem came though when he realised that Charlotte was hungry  _ now.  _ He had two hands, one baby basket and a kettle that was slow on a good day. Deciding to bite the bullet, and suffer whatever wrath the tiniest Fancy might throw at him, he wrapped her in a blanket and deposited her back into the basket. He sped into the kitchen and set about preparing her bottle, occasionally sticking his head around the door to check on her; not that he needed to considering the volume of her cries. 

It took about ten minutes to get the bottle ready, but eventually he fell into the chair beside Charlotte’s basket. He lifted her out and slid a bib around her neck, which only seemed to antagonise her more. Finally he was able to rock her back and hold out the bottle. 

Her cries were silenced, as her tiny pudgy hands came up to wrestle with his fingers for a hold on the bottle. Jakes watched with fascination as the small child in his arms downed the bottle faster than he would have thought possible. Moments later she was almost halfway through, and her movements were becoming slightly slower. She had softened completely in his arms, and even Jakes himself had managed to lose some of the ramrod straightness from his back. With a pillow under one arm and his feet stretched up on the table beside him, it was easy to relax into the moment. 

As Charlotte finished her meal, Jakes couldn’t help smiling at the girl. He’d never thought himself one for children, in fact had until a few years ago been adamant he’d never have one, but he could see how someone might be swayed by this. The tiny babe was beautiful, with the light curl of her mother’s hair and dark eyes like her father. No doubt she would have the same quick wit and sense of humour as the two of them too. 

Truly, he had no right to be proud of her, but he did anyways. She had felt like CID’s baby afterall, form the day her mother announced her impending arrival, the whole station had doted on her. Bright had won the pool on her birthday, though there was a rumour it was all rigged; everyone knew Shirley had a soft spot for her DCI. Jakes felt quite honored in way that Fancy had entrusted the little one to his care. As he sat her up to burp her, he leant forward and pressed a soft kiss to her forehead. She smelt like clean towels and shampoo. Though he’d be reluctant to admit it, a very tiny part of Peter Jakes had become broody.

The next hour or so went a little easier. The pair of them alternated between lying on the blanket and sitting up in the armchair, playing with whatever toy was nearest. Charlotte seemed to take great delight in pulling on Jakes’ hair whenever he held her to his chest, her delighted coos almost worth the eye watering pain. 

Eventually though, her laughter quieted, eyes struggling to stay open. Jakes watched her yawn, and struggled not to do the same. 

“Time for bed missy,” he said, shifting her so he could lie her down properly. She seemed to nod in agreement, quite content to be wrapped up in her blanket. He shuffled around for a few moments, turning off the light and flicking on the radio. He turned it down low, enough that it was just white noise and dropped into the armchair beside her. Letting his hand fall into the basket beside her, he grinned as tiny fingers wrapped around his. He stayed watching her until she fell asleep, her grip never faltering. With his other hand, he reached for the book he had been flicking through earlier. His own eyes were heavy though, and he was asleep before the chapter finished.

* * *

There wasn’t anything in particular that woke Jakes, rather a collection of things all at once. The lack of radio noise for one, and the weight of a blanket on his knees for a second. Then there was the rather alarming fact that Charlotte was no longer wrapping him around her little fingers. With a jerk, Jakes snapped out of the chair, eyes falling to the now empty basket. Horror flooded him - because holy hell, he’d had her less than three hours and she was gone- before his brain registered the muted sound of a record playing in the bedroom. 

The cold waves of terror slowly ebbed away as his heart rate returned to normal, and Jakes padded across the house to the bedroom, where he found himself stood in the doorway, watching. 

Lying back against the pillows, with Charlotte curled on his chest and his nose buried in her hair, was Morse. One of Wagner’s overtures spun quietly in the corner, whilst Morse murmured something to Charlotte, probably reading form whichever book he had propped up on his lap. The glow from the lamplight outside cast the two of them in a warm light, meaning Jakes could hide in the shadows for a moment to watch. He was almost lulled by Morse’s voice, too soft for the words to make sense, but the soft lilt was enough to have him melting against the doorframe. Then Morse’s voice picked up a little. 

“Maybe Uncle Peter should stop lurking in doorways, huh Charlotte?” Jakes shook himself from his stupor with a snort. He stepped from the darkness and crossed to the bed, dropping down beside Morse with a smile. 

Morse tilted his head and grinned at him over Charlotte’s head. 

“Enjoy your nap?” he asked. Jakes went to swear at him, and stopped just in time. 

“You could have woke me up you know? Gave me the fright of my life waking up just now.” Morse laughed softly, closing the book and lying it on the bed. 

“You looked like you needed it. I assume we have her all night, so-” his free hand came up to run down Charlotte’s back. “It was my turn.” Jakes couldn’t help the incredulous look that flashed across his face. 

“You… don’t like kids Morse?” he protested weakly. 

“I don’t mind them,” he said, a faraway look in his eyes. “They understand me in a way nobody else does.” He smiled down at Charlotte. “We had a rather enlightening chat earlier about Wagner just now, didn’t we?”

Charlotte snores in response, and the two of them laugh. It falls quiet for a moment, then Jakes moves to rest his own hand on top of the one Morse has around Charlotte’s back. 

“Do you ever think…” he starts, but he can’t find the strength to say the words. Morse sighs sadly. 

“All the time, Peter, all the time.”

Once they were pretty sure Charlotte was out for the night, Jakes went to bring her basket into the bedroom. He propped it up at the end of the bed and then watched as Morse careful extracted the girl from his chest, gently untangling her hand from where it was bunched in his shirt. Jakes found there was a bittersweet pain in his chest as he watched Morse tuck her in. 

The night was quiet for a few hours. Jakes fell asleep first, Morse following quickly after. Their arms tangled, heads buried in the blankets it was no surprise neither of them heard the first hiccuping cries Charlotte made. Offended by the lack of attention, and the aching pain in her jaw, Charlotte upped her cries.  Morse found himself bolting awake so quick, he nearly shoved Jakes from the bed. Jakes yelped as his shoulder connected with the bedside table, but Morse was too busy scrambling across the bed to notice. 

“Charlotte, dear, that’s wrong?” he cooed as he plucked her from her bed. Her cries softened a little, no longer claxons ringing, more like sirens a few streets away. Jakes sat upright and flicked on the lamp beside him, rubbing at his sore shoulder. 

“She okay?” he asked, still half asleep. To Jakes shock, Morse responded by hoisting her up and patting her bottom. He looked to Jakes and smirked. 

“Nappy,” he said simply. Jakes glanced from the girl to Morse and back again. Reluctantly, offered.

“You want me to, uh,” Morse nodded. 

* * *

Morse set him up on the kitchen table, travel sheet from the bag laid out, dotted with a clean towelling and clothes dotted around. Morse lay the grizzling girl down, unbuttoned her pyjamas and then stood back. There was a wicked grin on his face as he nudged Jakes towards her. 

“Yeah, okay, I’ve got this,” he said, more to reassure himself than anyone else. It surely couldn’t be that hard. The first step, obviously was to unclip the pin, but even so Jakes hands wavered with uncertainty. What if she waved her legs and caught herself on it, or she attempted, as she was now, to roll away from him mid-change. 

Just as Jakes fingers grazed the pin on the front of her nappy, Morse thankfully took pity on him and elbowed him out of the way. His sure hands made quick work in whipping the soiled nappy off, and he chatted away to Charlotte as he cleaned her up. Jakes watched over folded arms as the pair of them laughed at his attempts to change her. 

When Morse stepped back, there was a clean linen lying under Charlotte, the soiled one bunched in his hand. 

“I’ll go sort this out, think you can manage putting on the new one?” He didn’t wait for an answer, but did stop to lean up and plant a kiss on Jakes’ cheek as he whispered, “You’ve got this sarge.” 

Now this part Jakes knew what he was doing, at least, he thought he did. It seemed simple enough, like origami. What he had not accounted for was the now wide-awake child deciding that  _ right now  _ was actually play time, and that lying still was incredibly boring. Her bare legs flailed wildly as she kicked and she giggled as he tried to capture them. 

By the time Morse returned, Jakes had one hand pinning the nappy around her middle, the other was dangling a soft toy around her head. Jakes threw a desperate look over his shoulder. 

“Help! You need six bloody hands to do this!”

Morse ducked under Jakes arm, reaching down to finish folding the towelling, pinning it into place with a click. Jakes let his arms fall around Morse’s shoulders and buried his head in his neck.

“She’s six months old, how is she this much work,” he moaned against Morse’s pyjamas. Morse shoulder shook as he chuckled to himself.

“You just be glad we’ve only got her tonight,” he said, lifting her back up again. Her hands went straight for Morse’s hair, which to be fair Jakes couldn’t blame her for, it was very fun to pull on. Her big eyes stared up at Jakes over Morse’s shoulder and yet again Jakes found himself marvelling at her.

Then her head dropped and she started chewing on the collar of Morse’s top. 

“Oh nice, thank you little one,” Morse said, not bothering to stop her. He turned and waved a free hand towards the table.

“Pete, you mind grabbing her teething ring?” He cut across the carpet and dropped into the armchair. As Jakes handed him the toy he nodded his head towards the bedroom.

“I’ll sit with her, if you want to go back to bed.” 

Jakes stretched his arms out, his shoulder popping. “I got a few hours kip, I’ll stay with you, least till she falls asleep.” He made his way around the room as Morse got settled, grabbing up a few more of Charlotte’s blankets and toys. He dropped them on Morse’s lap, and then a thought struck him. He darted back to the bedroom quickly, and came back with something held behind his back. He fell onto the sofa, head atop a mountain of pillows so he could peer at Morse. Then he held out the book he had snatched off the nightstand. 

“How about a story?” 

Morse rolled his eyes but took the book regardless. “She did seem quite fond of it,” he said as he found his page. Holding it carefully out of the way of small fingers, he cleared his throat and picked up where he had left off.

“ _ There was another light in the room now, a thousand times brighter than the night lights and in the time we have taken to say this, it has been in all the drawers in the nursery, looking for Peter’s shadow, rummaged the wardrobe and turned very pocket inside out _ .” 

Jakes, only just now realising what story Morse had chosen, smiled to himself. He lay like that, listening to Morse read, and watching as Charlotte was lulled by the sound of his voice. Morse was very good at stories, reading at the right sort of speed and he did voices too. Not the cartoonish ones off the film, no these were real voices. There was a touch of Shirley in Wendy, Thursday’s inflection in Hook; Jakes pretended not to notice whose voice inspired Peter’s. As Morse’s story rolled on, Jakes eyes grew heavy. He found himself curling around the blanpillowsket as Morse’s voice faded out and gave way to sleep.

“ _ Peter was not quite like other boys; but he was afraid at last. A tremor ran through him, like a shudder passing over the sea; but on the sea on sudder follows another til there are hundreds of them, and Peter felt just one. Next moment, he was standing erect on the rock again, with that smile on his face and a drum beating within him. It was saying ‘to die will be an awfully big adventure!’” _

* * *

When Shirley knocked on the door the next afternoon, Jakes answered looking more rumpled than usual. He gave her a sheepish grin and invited her inside. 

“Do I want to ask?” she says, pointing towards the utter chaos that has become the hallway. Toys and blankets and an old bottle, all sorts are strewn across every flat surface. “You’ve had her one night and she’s wrecked your flat!” 

As Jakes leads her across the disaterzone, she wraps a hand around his arm. 

“Thank you for taking her, it means a lot. Fancy called this morning, dad’s going to be fine, but he’s staying a few days.” Jakes gave her a sympathetic smile. 

“You know if you need a hand while he’s gone…?” At that he pokes his head through the doorway, pointing Shirley towards the living room rug. “I think Morse would be happy to have her over again.” 

Shirley has to clamp a hand over her mouth to contain herself. Morse is lying on his front, chin propped up on his hands and her daughter lies beside him, staring up as he chats away to her. By the sounds of it, he’s bouncing ideas off her about the case he’s working. Charlotte waves a hand, and Morse catches it in his, like it’s the most natural thing in the world. Morse smiles, and then bends, pressing a kiss to her tiny hand. Shirley decides right there and then to bring Charlotte over more often.

**Author's Note:**

> sorry not sorry for the peter pan references im a huge slut for pan okay thank yall for reading! 
> 
> also like as explanation im basing morse's fondness for kids right off the fact he a) had a baby sister b) propbably thought abt having them with susan c) was fully ready, i believe, to take on joan's baby when he offered to marry her and d) was thinking abt being with that single mum in s6 and aadopting her kid and e) those kids that asked him and joan to adopt them? he probably would have so ergo morse would actually not mind kids, and has mild baby knowledge okay i just hhhhhh we're supposed to think he DOESNT but he DOES okay


End file.
